At some point during the past few years, the idea of "going green" ceased being a trend and became a standard for living. So what differentiates the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) from any other green organization?

RMI's mission isn't simply sustainable living. Its focus is to combine prosperous living with green living -- to make the world healthier on an environmental level and on a financial level. RMI achieves these goals through consulting with businesses, organizations and individuals on developing more productive and efficient ways of working and living. Simply put, RMI is a think tank, or an institution organized for intensive research and solving of problems [source: American Heritage Dictionary].

RMI employs a unique business model called natural capitalism. Natural capital encompasses the planet, its ecological systems and energy sources -- resources that support life as well as hold economic value. Historically, typical business models didn't take healthy environmental practices into account. The reason is that it's never really been profitable for companies to utilize newer, more environmentally sound technologies and practices. The core belief of natural capitalism is that by implementing earth-friendly technologies, efficiency gains will benefit the bottom line, not only through reduced energy consumption, but also in competitive advantage and possible government subsidies [source: RMI].

What started out as a small but committed group of individuals in 1982 is now a multifaceted consulting organization. How did RMI begin? Who is its founder? And what has this organization accomplished over the years? Read the next page to start learning.

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Parachuting Cats?

RMI even has its own guiding parable -- a cautionary tale that every action has a reaction and that sometimes what seems like a solution is actually a problem.

Faced with an outbreak of malaria in Borneo in the 1950s, the World Health Organization sprayed an afflicted village with DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, a synthetic pesticide). The short-term effect was positive -- the mosquito population died, and malaria declined. However, the DDT also killed wasps that had controlled the population of thatch-eating caterpillars. The rise in caterpillars caused house roofs to begin collapsing from caterpillar damage. Additionally, geckoes ate the poisoned dead bugs. Cats, in turn, ate the geckoes. As the DDT traveled through the food chain, the cats began dying. Fewer cats in the village caused a population surge of disease-carrying rats [source: RMI].

For decades, we've depended on an outdated, centralized power system that wastes power and occasionally fails to meet everyone's needs. The idea of a localized power grid, or microgrid, might just be the change we need.